Man, a lot of stuff can happen in the week between these blog posts. Last Friday, some major Apple news broke: the company will reportedly acquire Beats Music for US$3.2 billion. Beats, the company know for its headphones by Dr. Dre and its very good streaming music service, seemed at first an odd--and expensive--fit, but the more people have looked into the idea, the more sense it makes. The acquisition was originally thought to be announced Monday, but now it appears to be set for next week.

Beats Music may have about 110,000 subscribers right now. Not a huge number, but imagine combining its superior app and features with the simplicity of an Apple ID and bundling the app with all iOS devices? That could lead to huge growth.

Meanwhile, Amazon has been accused of intentionally delaying the shipments of books from a major publisher, Hachette. Remember that the DoJ ebook price-fixing suit was allegedly driven by Apple and the publishers conspiring to damage consumers. All it's actually done, it seems, is hand more marketshare and power to Amazon.

Lastly, a lot of people complain about not being able to use cheap, third-party cables and power adapters with iPhones, saying that if they pay a premium for the device, they should be able to save money on accessories. For a really in-depth view of how badly (and potentially dangerously) made these knockoffs are, check out this article.

Apple has prevailed in its patent infringement trial against Samsung. Last week, a jury concluded that Samsung had infringed a number of Apple's patents. Rather than awarding the US$2.2 billion Apple has asked for, though, the jury assigned just shy of $120 million in damages--a token amount for such giant companies. At the same time, the jury said Apple had infringed a Samsung patent and awarded the Korean company $158,000. It's far from the resounding victory Apple had sought, but it's a victory nonetheless.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is about a month away. The event, which focuses on Apple software and includes sneak peeks at major new releases, is often a place where the company makes big news. Last year Apple unveiled the dramatic changes of iOS 7 at WWDC. This year we can expect to hear about iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10. According to one rumor, things we won't hear about include the iWatch or a new Apple TV. I think a lot of people, myself included, expected to hear about those products, so it will be interesting to see if they don't materialize.

Upon how many people does the entire indie comics publishing business truly depend? A dozen? Two dozen? Imagine if the entire literary fiction industry turned on the fortunes of such a small number of people. It's almost inconceivable.

Guilt is often at the heart of good horror. Consider Father Karras' guilt over his neglect of his mother in The Exorcist: it's the path that Pazuzu chooses to attempt Karras' corruption. The Strain knows the power of guilt, and tries to use it—but with less success.

RASMUSSEN BROTHERS SPIN WEB WITH SPLIT LIP ON NEW HORROR FILM THE HARVESTMEN

The Rasmussen Brothers under their shingle Sinister Siblings Films have partnered with Sam Costello to produce horror films based on his Split Lip webcomics. The first of these adaptations will be The Harvestmen. Written by Sam Costello and illustrated by award-winning Finnish artist Sami Makkonen, the creepy tale takes its title from a group of reclusive arachnids.

Sam Costello created Split Lip in 2006 and since then has built the brand into a successful online series. Inspired by the classic weird tales of The Twilight Zone, Split Lip is an anthology of three dozen dark stories written by Costello and drawn by artists from all over the world.

The Harvestmen concerns a young woman who moves into a rundown apartment only to find that her building is plagued by intrusive neighbors and an odd infestation.

“We’re very excited to be working with Sam on this project. He is an amazing talent and we have been big fans of Split Lip for some time now. It’s our goal to bring a New England sensibility to our horror projects. After all, this is where American horror got its start, with the likes of Poe and Lovecraft,” says Michael and Shawn Rasmussen.

The Brothers plan to reveal more details about the project and the partnership later this month at this year’s Fantasia Film Market which they will be attending with another project that was selected for their Off-Frontieres line-up called Subculture.

About Sinister Siblings Films

Sinister Siblings Films is a film production company created by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen to produce quality genre films. The Rasmussen Brothers wrote John Carpenter’s The Ward and the psychological thriller Long Distance. Dark Feed, released in 2013 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, was their directorial debut and the first film produced under the Sinister Siblings Films banner. They recently completed principal photography on their second feature entitled The Inhabitants.

About Split Lip Comics

Sam Costello is a writer of fiction, comics, and journalism living in Providence, RI. His work has appeared in Rue Morgue, iFanboy.com, Amazing Stories, Cthulhu Tales, Negative Burn, Cemetery Moon, Punk Planet, CNN.com, About.com, and Full Stop.

Sami Makkonen, artist of The Harvestmen, lives in Helsinki, Finland. His art has appeared in the Eisner-nominated Hatter M graphic novel series, the Deadworld graphic novel series, and in magazines. He was the first recipient of the Sarjis award for the best fantasy comic (writer and illustrator).